Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

When all else fails, I can take photos of the pups for the Gallery... and that is exactly what I did yesterday. Sweet, sweet beagles.

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION! - I will NOT be posting on A Simple Life until Wednesday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day). On Wednesday, everything returns to normal. I will NOT be posting on Project 365 Saturday, Sunday or Monday. I will return to Project 365 Tuesday evening. I'm taking a little break... but I will return.

RANDOMNESS - I said yesterday I wanted to talk about "perspective" for a moment today. First, I want to encourage everyone to find the Louie Giglio DVD entitled Indescribable and watch it from beginning to end. It would make a great family devotion for teens and parents to watch together. It would also make a wonderful Easter Basket gift for your teens. Our church bookstore will have about a dozen in the next few days for purchase. This DVD will put your life, your problems, your existence into "perspective." It will stay with you for days after you watch it.

Second, I wanted to share something I saw this past Wednesday at The Galleria. As I was waiting for the buses to show up from the Band Competition, I was sitting in the food court. I watched a little family of four approach me. There was a very cute mommy, an equally cute daddy, a beautiful little girl about three or four years-old, and a toddling little brother. As the family came closer, I could see the little toddling brother had several physical handicaps... and I lowered my eyes.

But they came and stood in front of me as they tried to figure out where to eat. The little boy held his mommy's hand, dropped it and walked over to his sister. She absently rubbed his little head. He toddled over to his daddy who, while reading the menu, picked him up and kissed his cheek before setting the little boy down again. The child NEVER stopped smiling.

My heart broke for that little boy and his family. I know his future is going to be riddled with unkind remarks from other kids AND adults. He will be judged by how he looks before he is ever known for who he really is. He will be left out of games because he is different. There will be times he will have to sit alone at a lunchroom table. His life will not be an easy one.

But in the safety of that little family of four he was accepted and loved and treated as normally as any other toddler. When they looked at him, they didn't avert their eyes. They held his hand, rubbed his head, kissed his cheek... and even though his physical handicaps were very obvious to "outsiders," to them he was simply their son and brother.

As I watched this precious family of four make their way down the food court, I had to ask myself, "What have I complained about today?" "Have I told God thank you for another day with my family?" "Have I told all of my kids and my husband how much I love them today?" "Have I held their hands, rubbed their heads and kissed their cheeks today?" "Do they know they are accepted and loved (no matter what) in the Faulkner Five?"

Even more importantly, "Do they know they are accepted and loved (not matter what) by their Heavenly Father?"

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:13-14.

And God doesn't make mistakes. That little boy is fearfully and wonderfully made... knit together by GOD in his mother's womb. Is he perfect? No. No one is perfect. But while I can hide some of my imperfections, his are very obvious to the casual observer. Is he loved? Oh, most definitely... not only by the sweet little family God chose for him, but by his Creator, too.

No wonder he was smiling.

Perspective. It's a pretty important word to keep close to our hearts, isn't it?

Before the Faulkner Five set out to create yet another camping story, I wanted to share another oldie with you before the weekend.

Camping Story #3 - Where, Oh Where, Are All the Campers?

A year or two AFTER the Georgia fiasco, we did indeed decide to try another out-of-state camping trip another family. Roxie was three or four, so she was along for this one. We went to a campground in the beautiful state of Tennessee known for it's hiking trails, waterfalls and beautiful foliage. The pictures on the brochure were lovely, picturesque even, and we looked forward to spending a fall weekend in the great State of Tennessee.

When we arrived, we were surprised to see the "set-up" of the campground. There was a huge circle and campers set up tents and pop-ups under trees as you went around the circle. In the middle of the huge circle, across a grassy field, was the BATHHOUSE. There were no trees in between the tent and the BATHHOUSE, but it was still quite a little hike. However, the campsites were great. Picnic tables intact, fire pits ready to go, level spots to pitch the tents. We were excited.

As the guys got busy with unloading, Roxie, the other mom and I made our way to the BATHHOUSE to check it out. Oh, my! "Rustic" is a kind word to describe the facilities. Very kind.

"Well, maybe there's another bathhouse we can drive to and use," we reasoned. There was... and in comparison, it was a twin. Hmmm?

"Did you bring flip flops?" we both asked. We had, so once again, we decided to trade in the beautiful scenery and great weather for a less than perfect bathhouse. (MUCH less than perfect!)

The first night of our trip was peaceful and relaxing. The weather was great and after our trek to the Bathhouse in the Middle of Nowhere, we bedded down. We had planned on hiking to a waterfall the next day, so we knew we needed our rest.

The following day was gorgeous, and after breakfast we began our hike to the famous waterfall. On this hike, we had to go across a swinging bridge (always interesting), through creeks, and up the famous Tennessee mountains. When I say up, I mean up the entire way. We hiked forever... and then we hiked some more. Roxie and Grant (both three or four at the time) were troopers and thankfully, did not ask us to carry them. That would have been very difficult. Several hours later (or maybe just 90 minutes), we came upon the waterfall. Yes, it was beautiful. We looked at it for about five minutes.

Then we noticed how many people were with us looking at the waterfall. We hadn't hiked up the mountain with all these people. They weren't hot and sweaty. Some of the women even had on make-up and their hair was done. Some of them had the nerve to be wearing cute shoes, too! Who were these people? Where had they come from? Why were they looking at OUR waterfall?

So I asked one particularly cute woman, "Did you hike up here?"

"Uh, no. We drove," was the smug reply.

"What do you mean you drove?" I asked.

"There's a main road right over there." I turned around and there it was. A perfectly good paved road.

"Where did you come from?" I inquired.

"Oh, we're staying in a RV down at the campground," Miss Priss answered before she walked back to her BMW!

Before she could get back into her car, I yelled, "How long does it take to drive here from the campground?"

"About five minutes, give or take a minute," she called over her shoulder, and then she was gone.

"I think I hate her," I mumbled to Mikie.

He assured me that 90 minutes up a mountain would translate into 30 minutes going down the mountain. That made sense. And at this point, hot, sticky and more than a little grumpy, what was 30 more minutes.

Down we went, and 60 minutes later (NOT 30), we were back at our campsite. We stayed in our little cluster of tents for the rest of the day hydrating ourselves.

On Sunday, we decided to just hang around our campsites and play which was fine with the six kids. But we started noticing something strange around the noon hour. It was like an exodus of some kind. Everyone was leaving.

"Well, just because Alabama has a three-day weekend doesn't mean Tennessee has a three-day weekend. Everyone has to go back to school and work tomorrow," Mikie reasoned.

That was fine, except by 2:00 p.m. we were IT. I mean NO ONE was left in the huge circular campsite. It was like we had been dropped off by a helicopter in the wilderness.

"Do we have a gun or a knife or a big stick or something in case there's a wild bear attack or a bunch of hillbillies descend upon us," I asked Mike.

"I have my pocket knife, and we have those plastic knives you bring to spread peanut butter," was my husband's reassuring answer.

"This could be a very long night."

And it was. Just the last walk to the bathhouse alone was unnerving because someone (one of the people leaving... probably Miss Priss) had turned all the bathhouse lights off before heading out, and we walked across a field in pitch blackness looking for the building. And, of course, when we found it, it hadn't changed a bit... still very gross.

We went to bed a little early, and I think the four adults slept with one eye open. (I was, again, unable to pass out and painfully aware of how vulnerable we were in the middle of nowhere with no communication or weaponry of any kind... unless you count throwing screaming children at whatever is attacking you as "weaponry.")

I have never been so happy to see the sun in all my life. We ate breakfast and packed up our campsite in record time to head home. Think, think, think of the Good Things from this trip.

Good Thing #1 - Roxie and Grant were WONDERFUL hikers. If they had been even a little less sturdy, it would have been the end of the adults as we took turns carrying them up to the top of the mountain.

Good Thing #2 - The waterfall was pretty... not Niagara, but pretty, just the same.

Good Thing #3 - We weren't bitten by any of the spiders in the bathhouse... and there were a lot of spiders in the bathhouse.

Good Thing #4 - We weren't attacked by any bears or hillbillies. I think this is huge.

Good Thing #5 - That's it. Once again, I did the best I could to come up with Good Things #1 through #4.

And for some reason or another, we have never even discussed camping in Tennessee again. I'm not sure, but I think it was the bathhouse. I may forget dates and events, but a bad bathhouse... that's burned on a woman's brain forever!

DISCLAIMER: If you are a hillbilly (or are related to a hillbilly), I meant no offense by the reference above. I'm just saying if a hillbilly had happened to come out of the woods in the dead of night in Tennessee in an abandoned campground, it would have been very, very frightening. (In all fairness, it would be frightening in Alabama and Georgia, too.) Again, no offense.

Weekend Happenings

Camping? Yes. When? I'm not sure.

We (me, the Tuggle mom, the Tuggle children and Roxie) were supposed to leave this afternoon around 2:00 to pick out two spots and set up camp before the menfolk joined us... because that's the kind of hearty women we are! But after a quick call to the campsite, the very nice Alabama State Park Lady told me, "If I were tent camping this weekend, I would definitely wait until tomorrow so it could dry out a little. We had five inches of rain yesterday and everything is either under water or mud."

Appealing, isn't it?

So I made an executive decision. The Faulkner Five will leave early, early tomorrow morning to meet up with our Tuggle friends who are camper people (which means they do not have to worry about water seeping into the bottom of their living quarters)!

Tent dwellers have to be very concerned with water seepage, you see.

But it's all good. No matter what, we're going to have at least three nights around the campfire. We'll fish, ride in the boat, play basketball, ride bikes, sleep late and fish some more. It will be the MOST fun ever!

Oh... and just so you know, everyone gets two s'mores each night. No more, but no less!

I should have a story or two to share next week!

Have a great weekend. If you are having Spring Break, I hope it is filled with fun and good moments and memories. If not, make the most of the two days you do have! As I stated above, I will NOT be posting Monday or Tuesday of next week, AND I will not be able to post pictures in Project 365 until Tuesday evening... but I will definitely have a picture a day for Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday... definitely!

On Wednesday, we'll jump right into Easter Traditions, Recipes, Parties, etc. because Easter is going to be a little early this year!

Take care, and I'll talk to you WEDNESDAY!

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda